TOP OF THE POPS CONTENTS CONVENTIONS.

This was the only example of 'Top of the Pops' contents page that I could find on the internet. Even though this is just one style model, I can still draw plenty of conventional features and techniques that the designers have used.

First of all there is a text box at the top of the page which displays the masthead for the contents. At the end of this is an ellipsis which creates feelings that there is plenty more information to be found out within the magazine.

Alongside this there are plenty of other text boxes which show snippets of information on what you will find in the magazine with large page numbers printed in front of them.

For each text box there is different categories of text such as 'Wins & offers' and 'Celebs & gossip' showing that there is plenty of information in the magazine.
As well as this the subheadings are placed in text boxes at the top of 'their' content, and printed in a curly font; this is suitable as the target marget is for young girls - they tend to like this style of font as it represents 'girliness'

Mid shots have also been used to show the artists which feature in the magazine - these have a large page number printed on the picture to inform the readers what page they can be found on.

A page number is also displayed at the bottom of the page, but centered so it is visible and people know what page the magazine begins on. For this it has used the teachnique of 'WOB' (white on black) so it stands out from the rest of the text and so it doesn't clash with the rest of the colours on the page.

A copy of the front cover is also on contents page in the top left hand corner. With this page numbers are surrounding it of the pages where you can find the front cover content. These are made visible by being made bigger and arrows pointing to where the information indicating the page they are located on.

TOP OF THE POP MAGAZINE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD.

From looking at four examples taken from the Top Of The Pops magazine it is clear to see that the image takes up a lot of the page and dominates over the text. The images range from mid shots to long shots however the size still remain fairly similar size when compared to the others. From the images you  can see that they all give the reader direct eye contact in order for them to feel more targeted and making the text more personal.

Other conventional features on the double page spread is that they use are the same graphic design of the page number. The effect they use is WOB (white on black) to make them stand out from the rest of the text and so people can see clearly what page they are on.
Another typical conventional feature used is little puffs of direct quotations which has been quoted from the artist in the main interview; this allows the reader to be drawn in to what is being said.
Each double page spread has also been set out in an interview format to supply the readers with lots of hot gossip and information about the artist.  
As you can see from the bottom two examples of double page spread the masthead is a quotation from what the artist has said - however it has been enlarged so it stands out from the rest of the text so it acts as a 'title' for the text.

TOP OF THE POPS FRONT COVER CONVENTIONS.

From looking at four examples for Top of the Pops magazine it is noticeable that the main image is usually a mid shot, with the artist giving the readers direct eye contact, making the magazine seem more targeted to them.
As you can see the house style of the top two magazines are different to the bottom two magazine covers. This is because Top of the Pops designers felt like a change was needed to keep update the style of it, to more of a modern design hoping to fit in with more readers. The re-vamp gave it a fresh new look to help entice possible readers into buying the magazine as well as the continuous readers getting a better view of it.
Another conventional feature in this magazine is the barcode/price/date/issue is always placed at the bottom of the magazine cover, to stay out the way but still to seen buy the reader and retail store.
Sell lines are also jotted around the edge of the magazine cover to grab the readers attention and to make them more interested in what has been featured in the magazine.
Big bold titles have also been placed across the body of the artist to inform readers who the are if they are unaware of who they are. This is a convential feature which I am definitely going to use on my magazine.
Also on the new updated version of Top of the Pops magazine they do not have a tag line. This could be because it is not really needed and people may not have paid attention to it before seeing as it was placed under the image the majority of times. 
A continuous feature on the front covers is skylines. These supply snippets of information on what is also included in the magazine. I will use this in my magazine so it sticks to conventional ideas.
Bursts are also used on each magazine cover which supply information related to fashion. Seeing as these appear on every I think it will be a good idea to include this on mine. 

SHINDIG!

This is a very good example of a magazine which is aimed to a niche market. A niche market is a target audience aimed at a small audience. This opposite of this is a mass market which is aimed to the majority of the population based around a popular genre to what a vast range of people favor to.

Shindig! is a magazine based around 4 music genres: mod, psych, freak beat and garage rock and is published 6 times a year. 

The normal magazine costs round about £4.95 while the back issues cost round about £8.50 each and the books cost £9.50-£17.50. With the magazine you also have the option to subscribe to it meaning you pay for them all in one go and receive the copies in the post - the only advantage of this is that you only save a little bit of money!

From doing research and viewing a version of the magazine in class, it is clear to see that colour plays a massive factor within each copy. Some fans see this as a big attraction as it livens the music and magazine up and gives it more interest and appeal. 

As you can see from the name of the magazine (shown above) the font is very adventurous and has kind of a 'hippy' style. This could be used due to the magazine being individual and aimed towards a niche market so that it gains more interest. The use of the different colours placed behind the title could represent the variety that the magazine holds, yet show its high profile, positive attitude it produces. 

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook have been incorporated on to the website to help advertise the magazine in order so people become more aware of it. In the Twitter advertisement on the website it says "Shindiggers on Twitter" showing that people who are involved and like the magazine have their own recognition, making it seem as if they are part of a 'group'.

This is the latest issue of the magazine.

MY TARGET AUDIENCE.

When it comes to creating a magazine, you have to consider and pay a lot of detail to the kind of audience who you want to target the magazine for. This is very important as it determines the content involved in the magazine, the house style of it and mostly targeting it to sell to the specific audience. The way I have based this is by following the acronym of 'sagel' meaning socio-economical class, age, gender, ethnicity and lifestyle.

• Socio-economical class: I think that the majority of the population is middle/working class, therefore I will be basing my magazine around this social class. I think this is a good idea as they will  still be able to afford the magazine and it will have the correct level of formality for them.
• Age: 13-17 (middle of teenage years) is the age range of my target audience as most pop magazines have a similar target audience and have been very successful. This has influenced me to create my magazine based around these ages. As well as this I think that the content of the magazine will be more fun and exciting seeing it's for younger people.
• Gender: I am aiming my magazine to young females as I feel this will enable me to use a wider range of features as I feel that the information will be easier to apply to it.
• Ethnicity: For my magazine I am going to be aiming it at British and American people as the majority artists are an English or American origin therefore it will have more appeal to these audiences.
• Lifestyle: The kind of lifestyle that my target audience leads it like any other typical teenage girl - obessed with boys, the latest gossip and the newest trends. After doing some primary research I found that their favourite shops are Newlook, Rev, and River Island. Also I found out that a lot of them are on social networking sites such as Facebook and some even venture off into Twitter. From this it could be possible that I could link some of the magazine features on to a social networking site in order to gain more recognition and popularity. Most of the target audience said that shopping, going out with friends, music and social networking were their best hobbies and Nandos was their fave place to eat! As well as about 90% of them said they owned an ipod or some sort of mp3 player and their favourited genre of music was mostly pop, however some commented that Indie/R&B was becoming more popular between the 13-17 yr old friendship groups. On average the top 5 artists that were most played on their ipods/mp3s were Justin Bieber, One Direction, Jessie J, Rihanna and Katy Perry. This information could be useful as if they are so interested in their music, then surely they would be just as interested in articles produced about them-meaning more interest in the magazine! A lot of them also said that they love pets such as cats and dogs; this could be a thoughtful idea to use in my magazine as it would gain more of the audiences attention seeing as they love them.

INDIE MOOD BOARD.

This is my mood board based on indie magazine styles, front covers, double page spreads, and logos. I found this hard to create as I felt like not much attention is paid to this genre, therefore little quantaties of magazines a produced just focused on this genre. I thought I would produce this mood board to help make a decision on what style of magazine to create.
On these covers the logo/masthead is very bold and dominant on the page compared to other kinds of magazines such as Top of the Pops or Vibe. This could be used so the readers familiarise themselves with the magazine and so it can be easily spotted on the shops' selves.
Single artists are mainly used on the covers of the magazines that I have chosen, which could reinforce ideas of idependence. The magazine 'INDIE' kind of breaks conventional ideas as most of the 'models' are not giving the readers direct eye contact, which can affect the way readers feel about the magazine. By looking at the cover, it makes me feel excluded in the sense that I do not feel targeted or connected to the information that the magazine contains.
The images of the front cover are again centred in the middle with the text surrounding it. Mid shots are typically used on INDIE magazine, whereas mid shots and long shots are used on Q magazines. This is definitely a conventional feature what I am going to use on my magazine.
Similar to other magazines Q has the artists name in BIG bold writing across the main picture, making the readers aware on what main artist is being featured in the magazine.

INDIE MOOD BOARD.

On this mood board that I have created I have focused on the main bands and artists that are in the indie genre. As I do not pay much attention to this genre, I had to do lots of secondary research on what kind of bands and artists feature in this style of music, overall Wikipedia came in very helpful seeing as it listed e v e r y o n e who performs in this music! As well as this I asked a friend who prefers this genre of music to any other and listed several indie bands; this came in very useful.
Some main artists who I'm aware of such as Coldplay, Kaiser Cheifs and Ellie Goulding feature on this mood board and are fairly recent. From doing secondary research into the indie artists I found that they are all very similar when it comes to image; this is supported by the pictures on the mood board as you can see they all look similar yet unique and different at the same time. Further more this is assisted by the ideology of indie bands; this is mainly them being 'unorganised', independent, and unfound.
By looking at the images, it was obvious to see that the majority of the artists were bands rather that individual artists. If I wanted to use conventional features for my magazine, I would have had to take this into consideration and used a group of people (so that it looks like a band) for my image on the main cover of my magazine rather than just one as a individual artist.
As well as this the expressions on the artists face look quite focused and serious which kind of matches the style of their music. Along with this most of the pictures have feature direct mode of address (eye contact) which makes the readers feel more personalised.
Similar to the pop mood board, I have included a varitey of camera shots which range from mid shots, long shots and close ups. I think the most effective picture is a mid shot because it shows a significant proportion of the aritists while it focuses on more detail to their upper half of the body; this could maybe make the readers feel as if they are more informed on information and knowledge about them.
From looking at the images, it is noticable that the colours used are quite dull and dark which could reflect off their lyrics - typically to do with things that relate with alcohol, drugs or real life. Considering the colours used are quite dim it creates negative thoughts and connotations to the music and artists.